Shares of Apogee Enterprises APOG reached a new 52-week high of $55.01 on Apr 13 and eventually closed trading lower at $53.73. The stock price appreciation came on the back of strong fourth quarter fiscal 2015 earnings .
Apogee has delivered a solid one-year return of about 72.3% and a year-to-date return of 27.1%, outperforming the respective S&P 500. Average volume of shares traded over the last 3 months is approximately 199K.
This Minneapolis, MN-based company is a leader in technologies for the design and development of value-added glass products, services and systems with a market cap of $1.55 billion and long-term estimated earnings per share growth rate of 10%. The company has surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters with an average surprise of 6.42%.
Drivers
Shares of Apogee started gaining since Apr 8 when the company reported strong fourth-quarter fiscal 2015 results. Earnings of 47 cents per share improved an impressive 74% year over year and also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 44 cents.
Apogee also put forward an upbeat outlook for fiscal 2016, projecting revenues to grow 10% to 15% and earnings to be in the range of $2.05 and $2.20 per share. Capital expenditures are projected to range from $45 to $50 million as Apogee intends to make investments in order to increase capabilities, capacity and productivity. Gross margin is expected to be approximately 24%.
Apogee expects to cross the $1 billion threshold in revenues in fiscal 2016 and to achieve a trailing 12-month operating margin of 10 midway through fiscal 2017. For the longer term, its outlook is $1.3 billion for revenue and 12% for operating margin in fiscal 2018.
The company expects strong backlog growth in the first quarter, driven by its growing pipeline as well as a high level of bidding activity. Apogee also stands to benefit from the growing architectural market, focus on operational improvements, expansion into new geographies and markets, and new product launches
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Apogee currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks in the industrial product sector include RBC Bearings Inc. ROLL, AO Smith Corp. AOS and Astec Industries, Inc. ASTE. All of these carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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